Trying Out a New Lifestyle
by marisa lee -peanuts
Summary: "I seriously cannot believe you've never been to Ikea." one-shot. I know you've all been waiting for Sally/Linus, so here it is! :3 *CONTEST INFORMATION INSIDE!*


**A/N: Hello Peanuts people! Before I begin this one-shot, I would like everyone to just take a moment to read this note I have for you. This is not addressed to all of you, just a certain person who will know when I am speaking about them but shall remain nameless.**

**Dear readers of Peanuts FanFiction,**

**I seriously appreciate all that you do to keep this feeble branch of the site alive. However, some of you are rather displeasing. When I say that, I mean it in the kindest way possible. I know that we get a lot of Lucy/Schroeder fics here, and rightfully so, in my opinion, because they are one of the better couples and are easier to write about. I _know _these are dominant over the site. But just because they are a more widely known couple does _not_ by _any _means give you or anyone else the right to bash them. They have just as much permission to be on this site as any other pairing.**

**That being said, it has come to my attention that we have an imposter reviewing our stories. Someone (whose identity remains a mystery) is impersonating one of our well-known reviewers, /supersexyghotmew95/ via guest review.**

**And it absolutely appalls me, my dear readers, that anyone would go to such lengths simply to see less of a single pairing. It is such a childish way to handle the situation and I honestly believed people were better than that. This next I speak directly to whomever is behind this. I can understand that you disapprove of or even dislike the Lucy/Schroeder pairing and want to see less of it. But you do not have control over this site any more than the next guy. I will do all in my power to write less of the pairing, but I'm not going to guarantee anything at all.**

**I'm sorry to say that if this continues I will be forced to take extreme measures and prohibit guest reviews, encouraging my fellow writers to do the same. I'm sorry to have been so pressing on this issue, but quite frankly, I was sick of it.**

**I thank you all for your cooperation with this message.**

**Well I don't want to end this Author's Note negatively, but I'm afraid I must get on with the story. Please visit the end of this one-shot for a short message about an upcoming writing contest I have in mind for you lot, if anyone's interested.**

**Thanks again, and I hope I haven't lost any faithful followers!**

**Enjoy, all!**

**xoxo ~ml**

**P.S.: I sincerely hope to god you all know what Ikea is... Otherwise, you have not lived. If you don't know what it is, it's a gigantic wonderfully fantastic furniture store.**

* * *

**Trying Out a New Lifestyle**

"I seriously cannot believe you've never been to Ikea."

Linus shrugged. He didn't know what to say. He'd never seen her act so hostile about something as simplistic as a department store. He didn't see the big deal anyways... What was so special about this place?

"We have to go. Right now." Sally grabbed his arm and dragged him out the door to his car. She shoved him into the drivers seat and thrust the keys into his hand. All the while, Linus stared at her blankly, question marks hanging above his head like mobiles. Sally crossed to the other side of the car and got into the passenger seat, pulling the overhead mirror down to check her hair as Linus obediently turned the key in the ignition.

"Where am I—"

"I'll tell you how to get there," she cut him off. "Just turn left at the light once you pull out."

He did as he was instructed, following her directions wordlessly. This 'Ikea' place must have been a pretty big deal. After fifteen or so minutes of the silent car ride, Linus pulled into an enormous, packed parking lot, parking his car towards the back because there was no way he was going to find a spot any closer.

As the pair got out of their respective sides of the car, Linus stared up at the gigantic yellow-and-blue building before him, the bright bold word "IKEA" practically screaming back at him from the rooftop.

"What's the deal with this place anyways?" he asked Sally as she skipped towards the entrance, following her with long strides close behind.

Sally turned to look over her shoulder with a twinkle in her eye. "It's only the most magical store in the universe," she replied, as if he should've known.

"Welcome to your new life for a day," Sally said upon crossing through the large rotating doors to the place. She spread her arms wide as if presenting the entire store to him.

Entering the store was, to Linus, like entering any other store in the world. It was big, he'd give her that, but other than the sheer enormousness of the place, there was nothing out of the ordinary. There was an escalator immediately to their right, leading up a floor to the next landing. Sally took Linus's hand and dragged him onto the escalator.

"First, we wake up." she pulled him past an array of colourful bed sheets and bed accessories hanging on the wall to the very back corner, where at least a dozen different bed sets were on display.

"We wake up?" he repeated, confused.

She nodded in confirmation, letting go of his hand and running forward to flop down on the nearest queen-sized bed. She buried her face in the pillow on display and giggled, gesturing for her to join her. He hesitantly stepped forward and sat down on the soft bed opposite her.

"I don't like this one," she told him. "What about a bunk bed?"

No sooner had she been at rest did she hop up and skip towards a bunk bed in the far corner and attempted to climb up on top, despite the ladder-protecting plastic that specifically told her NOT to do so.

"Sally!" Linus scolded. "You're not supposed to do that!"

She just laughed. "Who's gonna stop me, you?"

He didn't have a response to that. She nodded as if to say, 'I thought so,' and rolled over on the top bunk.

"Sally, get down!" Linus called frantically. There were people turning towards the bed curiously, wondering what was going on, and a deep pink tint was tickling his neck. This was embarrassing.

But Sally didn't listen to him. She pretended to be fast asleep on the top bunk and he was getting nervous. When she'd said they 'wake up', did that mean she was going to take a nap here or something? What if somebody came by and they yelled at her to get down? What was he going to do?

Before he had a chance to have a seizure attack to this, Sally yawned loudly and sat up on the top bunk, stretching her arms as if she'd only just woken up. Her long blonde hair cascaded down her back as she shook the 'sleep' out of her head and turned down to Linus with a grin.

"Good morning!" she said happily. Linus waved, speechless. She giggled and scrambled down from the bed like a little monkey, resting a hand on his shoulder as she jumped to the ground. "Time for a shower!"

She whipped Linus around, and he had no choice but to follow her lead as she dragged him down, out, and around the corner towards the bathroom setups. There were only two sets with full showers, one of which was being looked at by a small African American couple. Sally turned to Linus with a sly smile.

"I guess we'll just have to shower together..." she giggled, opening the door to the 'shower' and jumping inside. Linus was frozen still, his eyes grown wide and a deep red blush covering his entire face now. "Come on, don't you want to get clean?" she dragged him into the shower with her and shut the door behind him.

The display shower was small and cramped with the both of them in there, and Linus tried desperately to get out.

"Stop trying to escape, you haven't washed yet!" Sally laughed, picking up an imaginary bar of 'soap' and pretending to scrub Linus all over. He had no idea what he was supposed to do in that situation. His brain was mush, it was fried and he couldn't think straight. The only thing he could think was, _I'm in a shower with Sally Brown. _And for some reason he was okay with that.

When the 'shower' was over (finally), Sally pulled Linus towards the kitchen area. There were several sets on display with cupboards, fridges, countertops, sinks, and everything that could ever belong in a kitchen. Sally chose an ugly, green-tiled set and yanked Linus down onto the counter stool. He willingly sat, noticing that some other people were sitting at the sets around him. He took a deep breath and put his chin in his hand, watching Sally as she rummaged through the empty fridge in search of 'food'.

"What's for breakfast then?" he asked. She beamed at his question, turning around to face him carrying an invisible tray of food.

"Invisible cereal!" she cried triumphantly, placing the tray in front of him. "I made it with love, so make sure you eat it all!"

He rolled his eyes at the blonde girl's silliness and pretended to take a bite of the cereal. "Delicious!" he said with a fake mouthful.

Sally laughed loudly with her mouth covered.

"Alright, now what do you suppose we do all day?"

Linus thought for a minute. This store undoubtedly had a million and one setups of different kinds of rooms in a home. What room was recreational?

"Let's watch some tv," he suggested. She nodded eagerly, and this time he led her across the aisle to a family room setup. There was a giant flatscreen television and a red leather love seat. He plopped down onto it with Sally next to him. A few people turned to look at the eager teens curiously, but did not say anything. Linus located a remote control on the coffee table and pressed the power button. Nothing happened. He faced Sally with raised eyebrows.

"Looks like _somebody_ forgot to pay the cable bill..." he accused, nudging her arm with his elbow. She looked shocked.

"Oh well, who needs tv anyway?" she glanced at a giant analog clock on the wall opposite them. "Oh goodness, would you look at the time, it's almost time for bed."

Linus followed her gaze towards the clock. It wasn't moving. He looked back at her. "But we only just woke up."

She sighed. "It does seem that way, doesn't it?"

Without another word, Linus was dragged back to the beds again. This time, though, she took him to a small twin-sized bed with a mosquito net draping the entire mattress. She pushed him under it and she soon followed. They sat upright on the bed, facing each othe.

"Now we won't get eaten by the bugs," she giggled.

He nodded, admiring the net surrounding them. She studied his face, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Now you know how much fun Ikea is," she said quietly, tapping her fingers on his knee absently. His eyes flicked to her fingers on his knee, nodding.

"Yeah, it's like living in a dream home," he agreed. He didn't look her in he eye, but his cheeks flushed when he felt her gaze on his face.

"We should do this more often," she said softly.

"This lifestyle'd get boring after a while, don't you think?"

She giggled. "No, I mean... This." she made a gesture to suggest the two of them hanging out together.

He pursed his lips. He definitely agreed. Although Sally had practically pulled his arm out of its socket dragging her around everywhere, he'd had so much fun with her.

"Yeah," he whispered. They were awfully close under the mosquito net. Their knees were together, he in a butterfly or Indian position, she sitting on her feet and leaning towards him.

"I could picture this being our life someday," she admitted, waving an arm in silent gesture.

"What, with a mosquito net over the bed?" he said jokingly. "Unsafe."

She giggled. "No, I mean..." she leaned closer to him. She was almost on top of him now. He was hyperventilating. "Spending every day together, in our own house..."

He flushed. "You mean not in Ikea," he whispered. She was so close. He didn't dare back up or move an inch forward. He didn't dare move at all.

She smiled. She made the softest noise, almost like a giggle, but in such a whisper it couldn't be detected by anyone except for Linus. Then she closed the distance. She didn't even confirm his nervous statement. She just leaned in and kissed him, right on the lips.

It was only a quick, peck of a kiss, and Sally had kissed him plenty of times before on the cheek, but never on the lips. And never on a bed, underneath a mosquito net, in the middle of Ikea.

She smiled softly and leaned back on the bed, onto her back, still looking up at him. He leaned over her a bit, curiously.

"We better get some sleep," she tried so hard to say with a straight face. "We have another eventful day tomorrow."

He smiled and lowered himself onto his stomach beside her, resting his head on the pillow next to hers. "As long as we can have something different for breakfast. Like invisible bacon and eggs."

She laughed. "We'll see, if you can manage to fix the faucets in the shower."

* * *

I hope you guys enjoyed that. It wasn't my best work, but ehh. I had the idea and I had to put it into writing before I blew up.

NOW FOR THE CONTEST INFO!

The rules are, basically, you must write a Peanuts one-shot that is centered around the theme or word. There are no restrictions on length, pairing, genre, rating, etc.

**Contest theme word: FALL/AUTUMN**

**Deadline: October 31st, 2012**

**Limitations: no specific pairing, rating, genre, etc.**

**Winners: there will only be one winner! First place will win a one-shot of their choice here on FF. Or if you have a suggestion, I'm all ears.**

**FLAMING TOWARDS OTHER ENTRIES NOT ALLOWED**.

Also, it is recommended that you PLEASE PM me a link to the story once you finish! Otherwise I might not get it.

Good luck to you all, and additional info is on my profile! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.


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